With 7.6 seconds remaining in regulation Wednesday, and his team trailing the Nets by two points, Cavaliers superstar LeBron James stepped to the free-throw line.

The King had played a near-flawless game, notching his 56th career triple-double (29 points, 13 assists, and 10 rebounds), including four blocks.

But he failed to put the exclamation point on another incredible performance, missing his first free throw long and the second on purpose. According to Cavs’ coach Tyronn Lue, James was instructed to do so because Brooklyn “was small on the free-throw line.”

The Nets secured the rebound, however, and the victory, 112-107.

Merely by taking the floor, James reached yet another milestone. He has appeared in 772 regular-season games for the Cavaliers, the most in franchise history.

“What does it mean?” James said afterward. “[It means] I’m available to my teammates mostly every night.

see also

It was an ideal night for the sellout, celebrity-packed, crowd at Barclays Center. Nets fans got to see their team beat an elite opponent, and James treated them to a phenomenal show.

With Derrick Rose sidelined due to an ankle injury, James started at point guard for the second consecutive night.

Nets coach Kenny Atkinson, asked whether he thought James running point would impact his team’s defensive schemes, said with a laugh: “He can start at any position he wants to and it impacts us defensively.

“Listen at the end of the day, I always felt like he was their quarterback in every sense. So it doesn’t change that much for us.”

James turned the ball over eight times against the much-improved Nets defense, but the four-time MVP also had his way for much of the contest. James played 41 total minutes (tied for his most so far this season) and orchestrated the offense, as Dwyane Wade also was out with a left knee contusion.

In the second quarter alone, he impressed fans with a pair of patented plays. First, it was a chase-down block of Sean Kilpatrick’s transition layup. Then it was a thunderous, one-legged dunk down the lane.

“It’s a lot of pressure to put on LeBron to have to handle the ball for 40 minutes,” Lue said.

But the momentous occasion, which was so close to being perfect, was spoiled by a disappointing loss at the hands of the rising Nets.